More time and effort, same curiosity: Information accessibility does not impact curiosity

Why do people feel curious about some questions but not others? Recent accounts of curiosity argue that curiosity should be highest when learning is likely to occur and likely to be rapid. This implies that variation in “information accessibility”—the ease and speed with which information can be acquired—might affect curiosity. Specifically, learning is less likely to occur and less likely to be rapid when information is less accessible, which might decrease curiosity. We tested this prediction in three preregistered experiments with a total of 419 participants. In Experiments 1 and 2, we prompted adult participants to rate their curiosity about the answers to trivia questions. For each question, they were informed that information accessibility would be high—they would receive the answer with minimal time and effort—or low—they would receive the answer with substantial time and effort. In Experiment 3, we additionally varied the probability that information search would be successful. Across studies, we found that information accessibility affected decisions to seek information, but not self-reported curiosity. This suggests that curiosity is unhindered by the practical costs of information search—and perhaps, sensitive to “idealized” expectations about the learning process, rather than “practical” expectations that incorporate current barriers to learning.